Isaiah 53:5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.

Divine Mercy - Do we Listen to JESUS ?

It is a bit baffling as to why people still need to go see more visionaries or locutionists or self proclaimed mystics who may or may not be genuine when we have Jesus speaking to us through St. Faustina of the Divine Mercy which is a fully approved devotion of the Church. Even some Priests who know about this devotion don't seem to recognise its importance and its power. It is for our times. Look around you, we don't need to go very far to see we are in deep trouble. We must take this devotion seriously and remember that we will all face Jesus some day and He will ask us what we did individually to live the Gospel, to live His word, to spread His mercy and to save souls. We are losing time and souls are falling into hell if we don't pray for them.

Jesus asked us and asked our Priests to put the Image in a visible place in the Church so that 'every soul may have access to it'...Is this done in a Church near you ? Remember it is Jesusour Lord and Saviourwho asked this........

I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world. (Diary 47) Is the Image properly venerated with candles and flowers ? The Image is not just a picture but a source of grace for souls. Jesus said "I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature": "Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary 327)Will we have to answer to Jesus for the many souls lost for not doing as He asked ? Please ask your Parish Priest if he would like an Image of the Divine Mercy in his Church and volunteer an Image perhaps between you and a few other like minded people. Be obedient to him, even if he refuses. Be gentle and merciful. You have done your part. The rest is between Jesus and the Priest. Pray for your Priests regularly especially the Chaplet of Mercy.

Do we pray the Chaplet of Mercy for sinners, for the souls in purgatory to give them relief ? Do we remember Jesus at the Hour of 3pm and that He went through intolerable suffering for us sinners in His Passion ?

Do we read the Diary of St. Faustina and do what Jesusasked or do we waste time reading the endless litany of messages from an unapproved visionary or visionaries ??

Time is moving on, it is ten years now since St. Faustina was canonised and the Divine Mercy Sunday made official in the Church calendar. It is time to wake up from our slumber and do what we can to promote this most powerful devotion. It is for everyone and Jesus wants souls to be saved from eternal perdition. We can help Jesus in that mission by praying the Chaplet each day and the 3 O' Clock prayer for the conversion of sinners and reaching out in mercy to all. Can you have a special day or afternoon /evening of Divine Mercy in atonement for the sins of the Church perhaps even more than once a year ? Do you get together with others to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for Priests in your Parish and throughout the world ? There are many things we can do. But we must reach out in mercy in whatever form that takes through the corporal works or spiritual works or both. Remember to promote the Divine Mercy Sunday which is a day of great grace for the world. This date for next year is the 1st May 2011.

Excerpts of the Pope's Sermon on the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2010

The most important of those texts in today’s liturgy is Psalm 23(22) – “The Lord is my shepherd” – in which Israel at prayer received God’s self-revelation as shepherd, and made this the guide of its own life. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”: this first verse expresses joy and gratitude for the fact that God is present to and concerned for us. The reading from the Book of Ezechiel begins with the same theme: “I myself will look after and tend my sheep” (Ez 34:11). God personally looks after me, after us, after all mankind. I am not abandoned, adrift in the universe and in a society which leaves me ever more lost and bewildered. God looks after me. He is not a distant God, for whom my life is worthless.

Another part of this sermon

“Your rod and your staff – they comfort me”: the shepherd needs the rod as protection against savage beasts ready to pounce on the flock; against robbers looking for prey. Along with the rod there is the staff which gives support and helps to make difficult crossings. Both of these are likewise part of the Church’s ministry, of the priest’s ministry. The Church too must use the shepherd’s rod, the rod with which he protects the faith against those who falsify it, against currents which lead the flock astray. The use of the rod can actually be a service of love. Today we can see that it has nothing to do with love when conduct unworthy of the priestly life is tolerated. Nor does it have to do with love if heresy is allowed to spread and the faith twisted and chipped away, as if it were something that we ourselves had invented. As if it were no longer God’s gift, the precious pearl which we cannot let be taken from us. Even so, the rod must always become once again the shepherd’s staff – a staff which helps men and women to tread difficult paths and to follow the Lord.

From the Catechism..

The Holy Eucharist

1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."136 "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."137

Quote

Our Lord Jesus to St. Faustina - My daughter, just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light. (1725)